Sticking to what made it 'Star Trek'

"Star Trek" maintains its place in that universe by sticking to what made it "Star Trek" in the first place.

"Rick Berman, the writers, the other producers and the cast have been absolutely determined to hold onto what were the fundamentals, most of the fundamentals, of Gene Roddenberry's vision," said Patrick Stewart, who plays Capt. Jean-Luc Picard.

But if you're looking for a dry lecture on ethics, you won't find it in "Star Trek: Insurrection."

Second-time director Jonathan Frakes, who Trekkies know for his role as the resourceful second-in-command Will Riker, is very sure about the course the Enterprise is taking while he is at the helm.

"Our science fiction has plenty of space battles and explosions and pyrotechnics and visual effects but it is still, at its root, about relationships, and it's not afraid to talk about something philosophical, something political, to take a moral or ethnical stand," he said.

Taking it outside

This latest "Star Trek" film offers plenty that is new -- along with things that are reassuringly familiar.

The ninth installment has more outdoor scenes that any other movie in the series. Much of it was shot in the Sierras, instead of on the Paramount lot.

The crew of the Enterprise

In addition, the movie has wilder, more sweeping special effects, now that the special effects are done on computers.